Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Apocalypse Shmapocalypse

By d-mac

So apparently the end of days finally came yesterday, and frankly, I feel fine. I don't see what all the hoopla was about. I didn't hear any trumpets sounding, nor did I catch any of the Four Horsemen parading around. I wasn't bothered by any swarming locusts or really even any more mosquitos than usual for that matter. I honestly thought the big A-Day would be much more ceremonious than this. Now I find myself questioning whether the whole ordeal was just overhyped for all these years, or if maybe the aftermath is all being downplayed by the Liberal Media. Maybe I should be watching Fox News instead.

Side note: Why do people keep referring to yesterday's date, 6-6-06 as a "numerological oddity" anyway? Personally, I think it'd be more of an oddity if the day after June 5th, 2006 were any other date.

Okay, so yesterday's news was hardly Apocalyptic by any stretch of the imagination, but a few things happened worth noting: The Braves ended their five-game losing streak at home, the startup company I used to work for finally got bought out (for peanuts) after five years and a couple dozen rounds of venture funding, and Alexi Murdoch quietly released his long-anticipated first full-length studio album.

It's about time. No, literally, it's about time. The album, titled Time Without Consequence, is an effort almost four years in the making, following his debut Four Songs EP.

Before you say it, yes, Alexi Murdoch is that Scottish-born singer/songwriter guy who sounds kinda like Nick Drake and sings that "Orange Sky" song that you heard in Garden State, or on that episode of Dawson's Creek, or on The OC, or on that Honda commercial, or wherever you heard it first. He's the worst kept secret in today's indie/folk music scene, whose self-released Four Songs EP quickly became the all-time top selling record on CD Baby with little promotion shortly after its release in November 2002. Without the backing of a major record label, Murdoch has managed to become the definitive go-to guy for any television producer, filmmaker, or advertising executive looking for a fresh new balladeer to help market another SUV or digital appliance to the lovesick twenty-something demographic. But that doesn't mean he's not still a freaking great musician.

Time Without Consequence contains three of the four songs off the original EP ("Song For You", "Blue Mind", and "Orange Sky") along with eight new tracks. The album as a whole is refreshingly consistent, and can and should be listened to from beginning to end. No skipping to your favorite song, A.D.D. boy. Be patient with this one. I picked up my copy this morning and have already listened to it four times. Here are a couple of tracks to whet your appettite until you can get yourself to a record store: